Many RWAs and AOAs in and around Indirapuram have reported serious difficulty in the collection of funds from the residents in the forms of maintenance and electricity money and they are finding it hard to pay for their day-to-day expenses, including immediate maintenance issues, office supplies and other resources.

“One of the most important problems that we are facing is lack of bank accounts available with the working class employees in the residential societies. We have 200-250 lower level employees spread across 75 societies. The security guards, domestic helps and ironing helpers, among others, are heavily dependent on cash from the residents of the societies and the RWAs as well,” said an RWA member of ATS Advantage Society, Indirapuram.

“We cannot electronically transfer money to them or provide them with cheques,” he said.

The RWAs complained that the cash crunch has made it impossible to employ painters, masons, plumbers and such for any work in the societies. “We stopped accepting old currency notes against maintenance charges and electricity bills soon after the government announcement. But it has been really difficult,” said D K Maurya, president, Federation of Association of Apartment Owners, Ghaziabad.

“Many residents still do not have enough of the new notes with them and as a domino effect RWAs are unable to make their payments,” he added.

He said the cash collection of RWA funds from societies has plunged with the difference ranging between 1.5 lakh earlier to a mere Rs 2,500 now. The rest of the residents are paying in cheques.